Chapter 1 — “You Said You Were Never Here”
Young caterer Noah was clearing glasses from the service counter when something on the security monitor caught his attention.
The upscale reception at the Ashford Pavilion had been underway for almost an hour.
Nearly two hundred guests filled the ballroom.
Waiters moved between tables.
A string quartet played near the windows.
The evening was supposed to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Riverton Arts Foundation.
Instead, Noah found himself staring at a video recorded several hours earlier.
He leaned toward the screen.
“That’s strange.”
His supervisor, Manager Harrison Cole, was checking table assignments nearby.
Noah called him over.
“Mr. Cole.”
“What?”
“Look at this.”
Noah rewound the recording.
Timestamp:
5:14 PM.
The reception had not yet begun.
Only caterers, decorators, and event staff were supposed to be inside.
A man in a navy suit appeared near the catering counter.
Harrison stared.
“Elliot Mercer.”
Elliot was one of the foundation’s major sponsors.
He was also standing less than thirty feet away at that very moment.
Harrison looked toward the ballroom.
“He told me he arrived at seven.”
Noah nodded.
“That’s why I checked.”
Earlier that evening, Elliot had complained because a private dining alcove had been reserved under his name.
He insisted he knew nothing about it.
The reservation included six meals.
A custom cake.
And access to a small side salon after the main reception.
Harrison assumed it was an administrative mistake.
But the security footage showed Elliot himself apparently standing at the catering counter two hours earlier.
Noah opened a drawer.
“There’s more.”
He produced a signed receipt.
PRIVATE SALON C — SIX-GUEST SUPPER PACKAGE
PAID: $1,200
5:16 PM
Signature:
ELLIOT MERCER.
Harrison looked from the receipt to the footage.
The timestamps differed by only two minutes.
“That’s impossible.”
Noah frowned.
“Why?”
“Because Elliot just spent ten minutes telling me he has never reserved Salon C.”
At that moment, Elliot himself walked toward them.
He saw the video on Noah’s phone.
Then the receipt.
And stopped.
“Where did you get that?”
Noah held up the paper.
“You signed it.”
Elliot’s face hardened.
“No, I didn’t.”
Noah turned the screen toward him.
“That’s you.”
“It looks like me.”
“You said you were never here.”
“I wasn’t.”
Harrison pointed toward the footage.
“Elliot, we’re looking at you.”
“No.”
Elliot suddenly looked toward the main entrance.
His expression changed.
Another man had just walked through the doorway.
Same height.
Same dark hair streaked with gray.
Same face.
Noah slowly looked from one man to the other.
Harrison whispered:
“What the…”
The newcomer stopped when he saw Elliot.
Elliot’s jaw tightened.
“Aaron.”
Noah stared.
The mysterious man from the security recording had just walked into the room.
And he had Elliot Mercer’s face.